Monday Swinney notes: Dabo updates injuries, almost perfect night for Klubnik

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Two injuries, a lot of playing time for younger players, and a near-perfect game for the quarterback were the highlights of head coach Dabo Swinney’s open date news conference.

Clemson is off this week and will host NC State on Sept. 21st in a noon kickoff on ABC. Swinney met with the media via video conference late Monday afternoon to discuss the week ahead and the 66-20 victory over Appalachian State.

Swinney said that defensive lineman Peter Woods is “day-to-day” after suffering an injury to his lower leg after a low block Saturday. However, linebacker Kobe McCloud and safety Caleb Nix suffered season-ending knee injuries. McCloud is a valuable backup at middle linebacker, and Nix is a backup safety who starts on all of Clemson’s special teams. Wide receiver Tyler Brown rolled his ankle and is also day-to-day.

However, Swinney said most of the night was good for the Tigers.

“We played a lot of guys. Some guys got exposed and some guys showed they were kind of ready for the show,” Swinney said. “So that's a great opportunity for us to teach and again, develop the team. We played really good pass defense, 42% completion, 31% on third dpwn, and created a couple of turnovers, had a bunch of PBUs and got a chance to see a lot of young guys. Good to see Sammy Brown out there flying around, making some tackles. AV (Avieon Terrell) led us in PBU. Stephiylan (Green) was one of our players of the game and really played well. So just a lot of positives, but the biggest thing defensively is they don't change the standard when you sub.”

Clemson scored 66 points and rolled up 712 yards of offense, including 525 yards in the first half (a program record).

"Offensively it was one of the best games I have ever been a part of. I've never been a part of a game where there were eight straight touchdowns,” Swinney said. “A lot of great things and a bunch of big plays. We had 13 different guys who had a big play. Just a really explosive day - 712 yards of offense. That's two games in a row where our offensive line has not given up a sack. No offensive turnovers and 100-percent in the red zone. (Cade) Klubnik was elite. That was elite, elite, quarterback play. It's been 25 years in college football since a quarterback has had that kind of game - a 95% completion rate, five passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. Cade broke Tajh's (Tajh Boyd) single-game record for passing efficiency.

"A great, great outing. It was great to get (Christopher) Vizzina in there. Overall a lot of good things on tape. We created a turnover in kickoff coverage, too. Antonio (Williams) had one punt return fumble but we had a couple of nice returns as well. A great win for us.”

Swinney said the video was as good as he thought it would be.

“That's what I told our staff. It was as good as we thought when we watched that tape. Incredible. Physical up front, elite play throwing and catching and we had so many guys involved,” Swinney said. “Cade only had one bad throw and took a shot over at Antonio. Outside of that, it was fun to watch and even more fun for us to grade. And it was fun to see our players have so much fun. They just felt it. Momentum is a powerful thing and it is contagious. And confidence is contagious. Now we have to take that to practice and show up every single day with that same mindset so that you don't do anything different when you get to the game."

Who will step into backup linebacker roles with McCloud out?

“It will be Sammy (Brown), Dee (Crayton) and Jamal (Anderson). All played a lot the other night, so that's a good thing that they got that experience. They will step up and fill the void. And we have Drew Woodaz and C.J. Kubah-Taylor that we're hoping we can hold this year."

On Garrett Riley’s playcalls

"He got everybody involved early and we just got into a rhythm. It makes it easier to dial it up. It was a good four-quarter game, but even when we subbed a lot of guys, we still did some good things. We played three centers. Harris Sewell has never played center in a game and he did well. We don't have Trent Howard back just yet, but he's close. The whole staff did a great job of picking these guys up after a tough opener. Again, though, watching the tape from the first game our guys could see some good things but also the need to execute with details and precision."

Practice schedule this week

"I don't ever complain about an open date. These guys have worked hard and have been going since July. At the end of the day you keep momentum by going to practice and doing drill work, fundamental work and team work. You keep game rep mentality. This is not an off week for us. This is a work week. We'll do a lot of crossover work this week for each other to help us get better. We'll study each other and our opponent. You do have some extra time to maybe study some other people, but today through Thursday, we'll have four good work days. We'll let them go Thursday night. Now it's almost time for ACC play so this is a big week for us. We'll make some adjustments and put a game plan together."

On offensive line playing well helps Cade’s confidence

"Oh there is no question. We are better around him for sure. And then he is better. He's coming off his first year as a starter. We've played two good teams and we have yet to get give up a sack. We didn't play Marcus Tate a single snap. We had (Collin) Sadler in there at guard and at tackle. We got big Elyjah (Thurmon) in the game and Dietrick (Pennington) in the game. Walker Parks has been outstanding.

"The MVP is Ryan Linthicum, the guy everyone had written off. He has done a heck of a job. I am really proud of him. He has been patient and has seized the moment. He's an incredibly smart kid who is making the right calls and decisions up front. And that has created more confidence within Cade's game. Mafah and those tight ends and receivers, we had a lot of guys involved. It was great to see Cole (Turner) come back and have a great game. (Bryant) Wesco kind of set the tone. T.J. Moore, Sapp, Stellato, all of those guys played well.

"We really like our roster. We just have to keep going and now we have to create consistency in our performance. I'm happy for Cade and all of those guys. They have worked really hard. I'm happy for our defensive guys, too."

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